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Has the car market gone to far? Or have I lost perspective

I miss both my 87 Charger GLHS and 87 Shelby Lancer more than my 69 383 SuperBee or 440 6bbl 4 speed Superbird. Both of my Shelbys were fast, fun, and Reliable. Even with the crude tuning tricks of the late 80s ( fish tank bleed valves, 5 th injectors, etc...) they both ran 18-20 lbs of boost, never had a head gasket issue and both were faster than any of my “ Muscle Cars” on the street, at the track or on the Highway.
 
There were only 500 of the 1986 GLHS' made so it is pretty rare. And fast for the day. Those were modified by Shelby himself in Whittier, CA. I think the price is high but it is a clean, low miles car.

I had the 1987 GLHS, 1000 made. Same drivetrain, only 2 door Charger style L body. I broke about every engine related part on it. Even at 175hp it would break the 525 5 speed due to deflection in the ring gear. The half shafts would strip out splines. Once I pumped the boost up to 18psi, it was a timebomb on all the parts lol. I even switched my computer and wiring over to the newer SMEC, which few guys were making custom chips. It finally ate a valve and destroyed the motor. Replaced it with a 2.5 turbo motor and swapped over all the T2 goodies plus bigger cam, intercooler, and turbo. That one ate a hole in the piston several years later.
 
84 Charger GLHS Advert. #1 How to build a IMSA car Advert..jpg
 
Darrel Aldermans car P/S, one of my all-time favorites
only way to own one of these :poke:

87 Charger P-S Darrell Alderman.jpg
 
another favorite Frank Hawley's F/C 1984 Charger/Omni

I actually had a 82 Omni F/C body for my 23t altered

84 Charger FC Chi-Town Hustler Advert. #1 Pennsoil.jpg
 
Dale Armstrong 80 Omni F/C @ 81 US Nats

80 Omni FC Dale Armstrong 81 US nats.jpg
 
Roland Leong's Hawaiian F/C 1980 Omni, 1981 Ontario MSP, Rob Colson

80 Omni FC Ron Colson & Roland Leong owned King's Hawaiian Bread 81 Ontario MS winner.jpg
 
It just came to me today (I remembered) that Hot Rod Magazine pitted a Omni GLHS against a Mustang GT350. Here's what I found regarding that magazine.

1986-dodge-omni-glhs-hot-rod-magazine-cover.jpg
 
These are odd cars no doubt and I love em for it. One of my favorites was a 89 Dodge Caravan turbo I owned. Got a giant Volvo intercooler at the junkyard and a bigger Garret turbo and injectors ,upped the boost and wasted guys at the stoplights on my way to work.
There are ways around the head gasket issue and ARP is only part of the solution. My car in it's heyday [Omni GLHS] dynoed at 290 hp and 320 ft lbs at the wheels pig rich and I ran out of time. The car weights in at 2000 lbs. Do the math. To remedy blowing up the manual trans you simply swap out the 525 for the 555 Getrag geared manual which will easily handle over 400 hp+. Many more were in the 350 to 400 hp and 400 lbs +torque pretty easily. At car cruises now the kids hunker around my GLHS as they have heard of them but never saw one. They won't give my 69 Plymouth a second glance or any old musclecar. These turbo cars were there at the start of the whole turbo ,import tuner turbo craze of the 80's and 90's. Like them or not they are a rather big part of Mopar history.


9 second Omni with manual trans. 35 psi



Here is my 86 Shelby Omni GLHS at Paul Newman's home track in Lime Rock CT last year.

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Unless it was Shelby's personal car no way on the price. Even then way too high but what the hell do I know?? Shelby did own 2 Omni GLHS's. One was standard production but the other was equipped with amongst other things a one off Hans Herman 4 valve head. Don't know where it is now.
That's where I'm at I don't know nothing especially about rice burners
:lol:
 

I didn't realize that they made a GLHS Charger. Very cool ! Damn I would love to have one, and then pass it down to my oldest boy. I worked on a ton of 2.2 turbo cars when I first started wrenching for a living. I remember my first test drive ( of a customer's vehicle) in the "new" Hemi. It ran ok for a 2.6, but not like the turbo's. My dream car of that vintage always was a loaded '87,'88,'89(?) Laser with 5speed and T- tops.
 
even in the Rampage
relatively rare
I knew a guy that had one it was a parts runner for a local parts stores
Monument Auto, in Antioch Pleasant Hill Concord, Ca.
87 Rampage GLHS Turbo 2.2 Shelby.jpg
 
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